4 billion pages view a month.  That is correct…four billion.  These eyeballs are all directed towards the beloved Craigslist that allows free online classifieds to people around the world.  Free, home-grown, community focused, and pretty much anti profit - Craigslist is not often thought of as an affiliate marketing venue. 

Affiliate marketers are abundant on the site however. The beauty of the site includes its open forum for discussion and newtorking.  Go online and chat about work, links, where to find new affiliate opportunities.  Peruse the career links on Craigslist and you’ll find a number of resume and job links. 

One of the most important things to remember when conducting business on Craigslist is to mind the site’s code of ethics.  While not as severe as it sounds, there are not only Craigslsit employees patroling the site for overly opportunistic folks, but common users as well.  The discussion forums can work for or against you if you’re not careful. 

Is the semester over already?  While it’s not quite time for students to sweat in fear of forthcoming report cards, Google Inc. got graded (albeit a good one) from Forbes.com writer Rachel Rosmarin.  You can check out the article in full at http://www.forbes.com/technology/ebusiness/2007/13/google-grade-youtube-tech-ebiz-cx_rr_0213googlegrade.html.  For starters Google earned high marks for its product line and additions including Google Pack and Blogger.  While Google execs maintain their mission to further expand and perfect the search function, their eyes are open to additional site features as well.  Item A - a calendar, checkout, and a financial site. 

Overall the writer graded Google on three factors: Popularity, Monetization, and Attention.  Well, from an affiliate marketing perspective it’s done all three.  One, the affiliate marketing business is highly dependent on Google AdWords, making it popular (but sometimes likened to the evil prom queen).  Plus it can make you loads of money if you work the system set in place - monetization.  And attention?  I’d agree on this one.  Article states Google could do more to promote its own products (like eBay did with their commercials).  This may give Google a face in the mass market and provide the staying power it needs as Yahoo! and Microsoft slowly grow in a Google dominated world.  Your marks? 

Content, traffic, interest, round the clock need for information, exposure and advertiser money.  Even Oscar is online now (as in the gold statue awarded to the folks in Hollywood and awards show of the same namesake).  Only Oscar.com is the showstopper this time.  

The show’s official website, Oscar.com was revealed a la a typical before an after typically saved for reality TV.  In what’s being described as a “two-screen experience,” Oscar.com was revamped to draw crowds pre and post show. The site was redesigned to include interactive content that links to all the show’s sponsors . Videos, blogs, and industry-related questionnaires fill the site, and live broadcast downloads are intended to cultivate and attract the much sought after YouTube crowd. 

The unfair advantage?  A host referring to the site throughout an anticipated three hour broadcast plus a copyrighted name.  Not bad for a site that’s lagged behind in an online world heavily saturated in the entertainment genre. 

Webvideozone is your resource for internet videos.  As discussed in the last blog, using video content on your site is a great and profitable way to draw traffic.  Webvideozone says (verbatum from their web site www.webvideozone.com) that they’re for ‘business owners, entrepreneurs, internet professionals’ and provide quality, interactive videos to their customers’ web sites.

 How does it work?  Signing up is easy.  Costs are roughly eight bucks to sign up and range from twenty to about one hundred monthly to subscribe.  Users get video footgage round the clock with immediate access to The Web Video Player ™, Flash 8 FLV Converter, web video articles, production tips, and more!  It’s a resuls generating site that allows users to obtain the right footage for their sites whenever they want.   The ‘free’ software download is nice, and the professional footage is a nice alternative to spending time trodging through other sites overloaded with lets just say not so professional clips. 

YouTube attract 34 million viewers a month, each averaging 30 minutes a day on the site.  And those aren’t necessarily the power numbers.  YouTube also contains over 100 million videos, with an additional 65,000 added daily.  While most websites don’t boast equivalent numbers in the way of video content, many are adding that thing that killed the radio star to boost viewership and online profitability. 

A great way to add video to your site?  Video sharing!  Good thing there are many a generous sites, even beyond the fabled YouTube.  eVideo, Bliptv, vSocial, and Yikers are three of more than 200 video sharing sites out there.  A quick Google search of ‘free online video sharing’ results in almost 200 million hits. That’s Google for you, but the moral of the story is there’s a lot of free content out there.  And what type of traffic does video content draw?

Online video content draws an active and participatory audience.  Not only that -  much like YouTube, viewers become absorbed in the site’s offerings.  Not only that, video displays allow advertisers to directly connect with consumer via interactive content.  And the best part is the newness of it all.  Online advertising pros are assessing the pros and cons daily while explaining exactly how to incorporate video content on a site.  

One day out of the year we all have the opportunity to sit in front of the TV and watch the sporting spectacle of all spectacles - commercials!!  Super Bowl XLI will showcase the best in football and in any event, the most expensive ads that now bear www. something or other as well.  Super Bowl Sunday is a national pastime built upon athletic prowress and economic opportunity. While the Colts and Bears duke it out - advertisers of all sorts (including online) showcase their finest as well (in most cases…we’ll see if Burger King can bounce back this year).  Online advertisements have only recently begun to appear on game day - both for online businesses as well as affiliate sites. 

Last year you may remember GoDaddy.com and CareerBuilder.com commercials that ran throughout the Super Bowl.  Online advertising experts emphasize the need for those online businesses to draw upon last year’s ads in order to build their brand and create exposure.  Other companies like Burger King, encouraged viewers to visit affiliate sites in the commercial as a way of integrating consumers.  Budweiser just launched an online video site (more on that in another blog), which we’re expeciting to see in tomorrow’s Bud ads.  Whether online or not, companies bank on viewers to put down the chips and salsa for a few minutes and check out their sites.